The room was a scene from hell. After cutting out what was presumably their control chips, the mantis monsters froze up for a couple of seconds, which I used to back up against a wall. However slow they might be, I didn't want to be surrounded. Once they started moving again, they charged, but not at me. They went straight for Maximilian, slicing, stabbing and generally mutilating him, all while maintaining complete silence. He did nothing to resist, dying with the same maniacal laughter he'd burst out with upon first seeing me.

They were also faster than the two that had attacked me. That suited guy I'd killed back at the facility had said something about control chips weakening monsters, so this must be what he meant. Now I really didn't want to get into a fight with them, so I took the opportunity while they were distracted to flee back out into the corridor, only to stop when I heard a different sort of noise. The clangs of blade meeting blade. That made me curious enough to poke my head back through the door, where the monsters were now fighting each other.

It was a gory fight, each of them concentrating more on offence, and barely sparing a thought for defence. Green blood and severed limbs went flying everywhere, until only one was left, down to two arms and bleeding heavily from a dozen cuts. It collapsed to its knees and then brought one of its remaining blades up to its own throat.

It remained like that for a few seconds, trembling, before it withdrew the blade, remaining in its position on the floor.

"Can you understand me?" I asked curiously.

It didn't seem to react at all to my voice or presence, just kneeling there. Then it swung up its blade for a second time, without warning, and this time with real force behind it. It carved clean through its own neck, severing its head and collapsing to the floor, dead.

Some gift that was, I thought, trying to cross the room without stepping in anyone or getting the icky green blood over my feet. I had no idea if he'd expected them to become my subordinates or something, but the way they'd all attacked him suggested they knew he was controlling them, and had enough intelligence to resent him for it. The suicide at the end also hinted at intelligence; breaking a mind so badly to result in taking that way out required there to be a mind to break. I didn't know what to make of the free for all, though, or the way they hadn't even looked at me throughout the whole thing, even right at the end.

I could hear voices from the rest of the mansion, this disturbance finally having been enough to wake the other occupants. Now what? Should I kill everyone here and take my time to search the place? Should I flee now and hope my involvement remained hidden? Glancing around the office revealed absolutely zero paperwork, so whatever data this guy had would be on computers and electronic storage. It was likely to be encrypted, and I'd be unlikely to find anything. Also, the conversation with the mayor showed me that they were still completely clueless about my true nature and location, and that it might be in my best interest to ensure that remained the case.

On the other hand, it wasn't completely certain I wouldn't be able to find anything, and as the late Maximilian had so eloquently put it, I had the cunning of a human. I looked down at one of the severed sword arms and grinned to myself, just as the sound of footsteps entered the corridor.

Ten minutes later, and everyone in the building had unfortunately been murdered by the out-of-control mantis monsters. No harpies here. Nope, none at all.

Okay, so I doubted my trick would hold up to any sort of detailed forensic inspection. I'd probably been shedding fur everywhere or something. It was just a shame that one of the maids in this place had been busy setting up some scented candles when the mantis monsters had struck, leading to the whole place burning down and any investigators having very little to go on beyond charred bones.

Trying to light a match with my claws wasn't going to be fun, but I was sure I could manage it.

My hasty cover-up complete, I started to search the place more seriously. I still couldn't spend too long here; the night would probably be okay, but come morning, people were going to start noticing that a famous CEO and his household had gone missing. I should leave before dawn and get out of the city before first light.

My search surprisingly turned out to be successful. Encryption and passwords mean little if you leave a computer on and logged in. There wasn't time to search through it here, so I picked one of the phones from my bag, tore out the antenna, turned it on, and started copying across as much as I could within my self-imposed time limit, enjoying the plentiful available food while I waited.

It had proven an interesting day. The implications from what Maximilian had told me was that he started researching into turning people into monsters sometime over fifteen years ago, but after having no luck and under pressure from authorities, had to outsource further work. In had stepped Grant, our beloved mayor, who had rather different motivations. At some point during that time, they'd invented some sort of neural implant that could control the monsters they created at the expense of their physical abilities.

I had no clue what made me different from any of their other attempts, or what exactly had happened to the mantises once they removed their chips. For that matter, I didn't know what happened to them while they did have their chips. Were they conscious but unable to act, like Lily had once been after I took over? That could well explain their behaviour once freed, if so.

Well, I had more information available now. I just needed to get somewhere safe first. I headed back to the open window and into the early morning sky, making sure to light and knock over a candle on my way out.